'Salt n Peppered'

Summer

2011-05-24T09:39:00.000-07:00

A dollop of strawberry pink
A squeeze of lemon yellow
A sprig of minty green
Under the blue summer sky

Is my perfect recipe for a Sunday!

Illusions

2009-10-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

I feel happy. Rather elated with a lofty feel. There is so much to discover so much of knowledge i need to uncover. Just finished reading Palace of Illusions and and suddenly there is a feeling germinating in me to belive in the devine. All would make more sense more meaningful. The whole journey more fulfilling.

Emancipation

2008-08-14T02:40:00.000-07:00

Listless wishless...
Counting the moments wiz past
Still there is anticipation
Some fancy imagination
Caught a glimpse in a wink
Look back to see it all blank

Dizzy tizzy going crazy
Spin spin spin like a top
Everything strewn around
Swear it makes a pretty sight
Whats the story - morning glory?
Are you all right?

My Pet Demon

2007-11-17T05:05:00.000-08:00

Levi-Tate

2007-01-24T03:33:00.000-08:00

Have grown this wonderful way of ‘detached existence’ – living in a limbo, floating in a limitless bottomless tub of ether.

Infact it is therapeutic. You can just pull up the callous cover and pretend to be in a trance. Need not even bat your lids when something of real consequence occurs. Or you can pretend to be a fish with no lids at all …just glare glare glare hard but at nothing particular with a brooding look on your face.

How does it matter if some more skulls are dug up of some Nihari village kids, heat or cold wave, flood or drought, tsunami or Vidharba destitution kills some hapless soul in some far away village…town…city. It’s not my business; it does not affect my SEC A+ segment.

Even bombs on local train don’t blast my stupor. Blame it on their Karma! I have been oiling my karma chakra (wheel of fortune).

I am a true Gandhian. I seen no evil, hear no evil and definitely speak no evil.

I am a Magician. I don’t just fool my audience with myself too.

I am a person with strong conviction – I truly believe in my every day lies and make a honest living.

I have no roots, nor arms to reach up to the sky. I am not existent but not insignificant. I am there as a small cog in the big wheel. I figure somewhere in scheme of things.

I have been bleeding for a while, but I left my wounds open too long. Now I am scared to touch it, fear to disturb the ecology. Let it be…Karma will take its toll.

Sometimes in the stillness of the night I can hear a gnawing sound. Something burrowing into my heart, spreading into my brain… the hole keeps growing till it fills me up, or till I cave in.

Why am I bothered, I have a well-maintained Karmic balance sheet. The records guarantees my re birth to the next higher-level non-existence.

No Resolutions!

2006-12-27T00:54:00.000-08:00

A clean new slate. Start from the scratch.
Words fill in with full stops & comas
Some lines scratched out, words over written
Squiggly sketches, doodles on the margin
Lone words hanging lame in different colours
Hurriedly scribbled mobile numbers with no names

The clean sheet starts getting filled up in an order
Then gets into chaos …Stop Stop, I didn’t plan it this way

Shall I just tear off this page in throw it in the bin?
It is a waste – nothing but memories
Some sweet, still makes me smile in a busy day for a while
Some bitter, still makes a lump, which I have learnt to gulp

Some I don’t just any more care about!

I will save this sheet in a folder and keep it safe
Maybe another spring-cleaning I will find it
And then again sit and ponder…
Is it worth carrying the old baggage?

Dilemma!

2006-11-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

I need to buy a new mobile phone! Actually, I don't feel the necessity to actually buy one, as for texting & making/receiving calls - my cell works perfectly! I have my iPod Nano for music and plan to soon buy a very good digicam (camera phones picture quality is sad!).

But then there are moments, when I am completed to think that a cell is much beyond a communication device, its an extension of what I am, what I stand for ... it is my alter ego! Like when Rachel remarked 'your cell is way beyond Mummification, it has fossilized!’ Or when in one of my client meetings, the brand manager suddenly exclaims 'WHAT IS THIS, is it a cell?'

Gone through the various stages of turning crimson, pretend to be deaf, act as if its not my cell... finally I put up my hands when my loyal companion has started showing signs of old age. Wheeze, cough, spat - time to bid him a worthy farewell! But friend I shall miss you, when I fondly recollect innumerable times when I lost you and before I realized my loss, you were returned by the Rickshaw walla, Canteen boy, Chemist’s helper …and even the Dhobi!

So I embarked on this hunt for a new mate!

Now I am all greedy, as I have plunged headlong in the age of consumerism, I may as well make the best of it! I am the Queen of Hearts and they day I get bored of my gizmo shall screech …'Off with its head…’

So, it should have
· Camera - 2 mega pixel +
· Audio/Video player
· MP3 player
· Thumb drive
· Mail client
· External flash memory

Should be
· Bluetooth/IR enabled
· GPRS enabled

Should look
· Slim n Sexy

Though a PDA looks like the most likely solution – but I am against it,
Firstly ALL PDAs ARE MIGHITILY BULKY & UGLY,
Secondly, I DON”T WANT TO BE AVAILABE 24x7 ON MY OUTLOOK AT THE BECK & CALL OF MY CLIENTS

So, the best way is to consult your peers & Google it! That what I have done, keeping an equal weightage of features, aesthetics & cost - the line up is as follows:

· Sony Erickson K750i – total value for money, has all the goodies but doesn’t get my vote on looks!
· Sony Erickson W810i – hmmm… selected because of the goodness of a Walkman phone sans the garish orange n silver/white combo! This is a sexy black piece with some dashes of muted orange!
· Nokia N 80 (Internet edition) – ohhh… it completely takes my heart … n my pocket too!

Incase you are wondering, why this bias on Sony Erickson… well, that’s the cell Bond, James Bond uses! I saw Casino Royale on Friday night and just can stop salivating… pheeeeeew… Daniel Craig is to super duper HOT! Watch out for him!

Well, I am all confused after a day’s hard work of Googling! Still can’t make up my mind :I

All suggestions welcome!

Turn-turn-turn

2006-11-02T06:33:00.000-08:00

How does it feel when suddenly all that you know, believe in, trust – just turns around upside down.

One moment you were up on a pinnacle, sunny rosy happy smiley!

Blink.

You are down the deepest darkest chasm – didn’t even get the chance of a freefall.

First denial. Nothing has happened, this is all a bad dream! I will wake up.

Then, a sinking feeling. Something has gone very wrong … somewhere… somehow…

Finally, a glimmer of hope shines; there must be a way out. I am not a looser! Just have to push myself to the last brink – give one last try. Give my best.

Just then, you hear a horrible blood curling cry… and after a while realize that it is coming from you. Till now you were actually balancing on a narrow precipice. Down you go into a bottomless pit.

A sense of numbness spreads all over. Its really not all that bad once you get used to it.

_____________________________________

Run Rabbit run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down its time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race towards an early grave
- Pink Floyd
_____________________________________

Just another Sparrow or the Phoenix?

2006-10-24T22:16:00.000-07:00

I was checking out the latest in the crowded space of 'social networking' - Soapbox on Msn Video. Being Microsoft - wasn't surprised to catch up some spoofs on Apple products! Check the one the new iPod avatar, the iPod Flea!
Video: iPod Flea

For sure, saw lots of promo of Zune - named 'The iPod Killer'! Seriously, not expecting much from Zune but at least this video completely \../s

Video: Zune

But then iPod will nor give up so easy, from New & Improved versions to making iTunes more social!

A new software program called iLike is being launched which will integrates with your iTunes and studies your entire music library and your listening -- not buying -- habits before suggesting related songs. It shows you what your friends are currently listening to and sets up a Web site where your music tastes are organized for others to see, encouraging social networking according to your music compatibility with other users.
Many Web sites and services, including Rhapsody and Pandora, offer suggestions of related music, but iLike is focused on matching your tastes with those of other users, and showing what these friends are playing.

So, as the battle unfolds - let us just sit back and enjoy all the goodies!

Déjà vu

2006-09-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

Found another long lost friend!

2006-09-09T01:36:00.000-07:00

We meet people every day. Some become friends and some really good friends. But finally we just part ways and go out on our set path.

Memories stay – they fade away and what remains are just the ones that really had touched us or made some significant difference to us.

So when I joined Orkut and connected with some people who I haven’t spoken to/heard from for the last 10 years … it brought in a flood of mixed emotions.

People have changed but not necessarily grown up…some just refused to budge from their teen mindset.

Priorities have changed…friendship which we use to swear by, heartaches which would never ease, now seen so distant even to the extent that I can dissociate myself from it and view it on a 70 mm.

Equations have changed. Ms Snobity Snob is just all too keen to network with me cause I am in the same fields as she is and she wants to make contacts.

This whole concept of online communities – at one level is a great leveler. But, we customize profiles to attract the kind of people we want to connect with – so how long will this last? If everything is so make belief - who will trust it? I guess if u have to actually make people come back to your site/blog time and again, you just have to be plain TRUTHFUL. One can see through the fallacy if one scans through all the gamut of online social/networking community accounts like Orkut, LinkedIn, Ryze, Yahoo! 360°, Blogs, Yahoo/Google Groups, Alumni Forums. Specialty communities like Flickr for pictures, Froggle for Shopping, Youtube for Video blogging etc.

I know this can be scary, to be so exposed. I shared this concern with my mentor and what he said made a lot of sense – ‘but it (Being ourselves – depicting exactly how we are ) also makes us bolder and more transparent. More we disclose about ourselves, more we learn’.

So, here I am – the way I am. No pretense no bullshitting.

By the way, one more community I added myself to today is Msn Spaces and guess whom did I fid there? Think that should be another story….

See just what you want to see!

2006-08-07T01:35:00.000-07:00

Came across this article and was wondering - how would it be if everything we see was just tailor made to our whims & fancies! Woooha... would definitely make my boss wear such a filter so that when i am doing my usual day dreaming... he will see me working hard on my comp!
That apart, life would be annoyingly boring. Imagine - you are in a real foul mood on a Monday morning and you see the grumpy face of your client right when you were planning to light up a smoke with a cuppa coffee! Wouldn’t it just make your day?

Yellow Tuesday

2006-08-03T04:56:00.000-07:00

Spin Spin Spin ... spin like a top
Round & round on a merry-go-round
Dizzy with the speed - I throw up.

Beautiful day, so many promises it holds
I step out on a rainy day...
Thus another old story unfolds.

A Tuesday evening, I survived
Odds were not high, so can't praise luck
The fuck was good had i lied.

Rate yourself on the Seven Deadly Sins!

2006-07-05T02:19:00.000-07:00

Greed:	High
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	High
Sloth:	High
Envy:	High
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Medium

Take the Seven Deadly Sins Quiz

Extreme Canibalism

2006-05-22T22:10:00.000-07:00

It was unbelievable! When I first saw this ad - I was simply stumped! One really wonders what was going on in the mind of the guys who create such stuff!!!

Death of Creativity

2006-05-17T07:41:00.000-07:00

Does MBA make a person uncreative?

Not so long back, even in college days, I used to write fervently. Suddenly from the time I stepped into the 'Temple Of Learning’ (that’s how my B-School was positioned), something tinkled off in my brain and I lost the ability to pen down anything original.

Maybe it is because of the Cut-Copy-Paste syndrome. Or the mindless staring at the comp screen. Or the daily 12 hr working schedule. Don't know what... but it was not a tragic death.

No one misses Creativity. Life is on a high five just the way it is.

Was reading Winnie-the-Pooh and the lines that struck me are...

Say you're surprised?
Say you like it?
Say it's just what you wanted?
Because it's yours-
Because we love you.

That’s how life is. Everything has been said. Spelt out in details. I can just feign to be surprised & happy. Everybody wishes me well. All in the name of love.

Swing around.

2006-05-03T01:14:00.000-07:00

When life goes a full circle - do we reach a point of intersection – a crossroad?

The inertia would force you to go skim on the circumference, just to go round and round the same old path. Keep a constant (safe) distance from the core (issue) and the worst is that since you are in motion with a decent speed - there are no raised eyebrows. No questions asked. There is just a gnawing feeling deep within - no one is noticing so you can choose to ignore.
What if you just decide to take off - a tangent to the usual circle of life? How to break free of the inertia? Can the tangent path not be linear?

DEADLY

2006-04-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

And the award goes to...

2006-04-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

Too good to miss!

2006-04-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

Another spoof on Bush jr... pulled off by Frank Calien on the Letterman show.

The Dreamer...

2006-04-07T06:34:00.000-07:00

A boat beneath a sunny sky, Lingering onward dreamily

In an evening of July - Children three that nestle near, Eager eye and willing ear, Pleased a simple tale to hear- Long has paled that sunny sky: Echoes fade and memories die. Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise, Alice moving under skies Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear, Eager eye and willing ear, Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie, Dreaming as the days go by, Dreaming as the summers die:Ever drifting down the stream- Lingering in the golden gleam- Life, what is it but a dream?

from - THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

Life would be so easy if only

2006-03-20T00:34:00.000-08:00

Only if people watched the ads ... n not hit the button as soon as the 'commercial break' starts! How ungrateful … avoiding the very benevolent sponsor for whom he can watch his favourite show!!!

But then... on another perspective…would there be any need for media planners??? Would be made redundant – given the pink slip and this slip would leave a terrible black n blue bum!
Eeeuh!

Story of our lives!

2006-03-17T05:26:00.000-08:00

Now this one is on the MBAs

2006-03-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

For a good laugh!

Some people just have it all!

2006-01-31T00:44:00.000-08:00

Life!

Nostalgic trip

2006-01-25T04:39:00.000-08:00

Long long time back,

- when Doordarshan was the only channel we had to watch
- when kids were not spoilt with so many option of cable channels
- when 'Rukawat ke leye khed hai'/'Sorry for the interruption' for transmission failure was a regular occurrence
- when I was small kid and used to wait for He-Man, Spiderman, Dada-dadi ki kahaniya...

There was this animated movie called 'Ek-anek'... I guess all u guys at the wrong end of 25 will know what I am talking about! I came across it in a forward and couldn't resist sharing it on my blog.

Enjoy!

ek_anek.asf

Talk talk...

2006-01-24T04:25:00.000-08:00

My colleague, Anu told me an interesting fact - Rajanikath in the hit movie 'Badsah' says that 'Indians would die if they don't talk'... next day there was an article in Hindu that Indians use the mobile phone most for casual chat!!!

Well... bening a hardcore Bong, i cant refute this... love the loooong 'Adda' sessions in college days!

Red Cross no more!

2006-01-17T23:46:00.000-08:00

I was reading this article on Adweek Crystal Power for the Red Cross - on why Red Cross had to change its symbol - amazing how religion & practicality was morphed together for such an unique solution!

Rolling on...

2006-01-16T23:32:00.000-08:00

Life ended up being a never-ending series of crisis management. Hop-skip-n-jump from one crisis to another! If there is a day going smoothly – I start panicking that something somewhere must be going wrong … a time bomb is just ticking away to explode when I can least handle it.

And then – follow-ups! To get anything done have to just push around people. Everyone just tries to push around the buck – n we just get into big black hole…

When did we loose control of our own lives? How did it happen? Was it from the time division of labour was implemented? Assembly line production was the main culprit – everyone is just a small cog in the big wheel. But who is finally accountable for all shit? Who has the ownership?

I guess the only learning from my 26 yrs of life has been to be detached from everything I do – be it work, family or friends. Just be accountable to myself – period.

Adieu... 2005!

2005-12-30T03:42:00.000-08:00

Another year just wizzzed past. I was just trying to sit back and take account - so much has happened but still when I sit down to pen them down in a neat paragraph - with bullet points... I draw a blank.

Yes, career has been on the right track.
Yes, family is happy.
Yes, enjoying the experience of being completely on my own in a new city.

No, I don’t repent anything I have done.

Still... I draw a blank not really made any difference to anyone else in the world... nor for that matter made any difference for myself.

Nothing to be proud of.
No thoughts that I would cherish.
2005… has just been another year – adding on to my age and hopefully wisdom too!

Alternate Life

2005-11-30T02:22:00.000-08:00

Mage

Are you a Harry Potter fan? Still facinated by King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table? Do you find Lord of the Rings up-put-downable? Check out Ragnarok...

Tribal Meet

2005-11-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

Total Confusion!

I had the most introspective session at the Tribal Meet in Mumbai. Learnt about MBTI test and now i am completely hooked on it ... on a phase of trying to decipher 'people'.

Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (1890 - 1977) American comedian and actor

2005-11-24T22:27:00.000-08:00

"A four-year-old child could understand that. Run out and find me a four-year-old child, I can't make head or tail out of it."
- Duck Soup when reading a treasury department report. (1933)

"I don't have a photograph, but you can have my footprints. They're upstairs in my socks."
- A Day at the Races. (1937)

"Years ago, I tried to top everybody, but I don't anymore. I realized it was killing conversation. When you're always trying for a topper you aren't really listening. It ruins communication."

"I don't have a photograph. I'd give you my footprints, but they're upstairs in my socks."
- When asked for a photograph for identification The Groucho Phile. (1976)

"You're a brave man. Go and break through the lines. And remember, while you're out there risking your life and limb through shot and shell, we'll be in here thinking what a sucker you are."
- Duck Soup to a soldier (Harpo as Pinky) about to enter battle. (1933)

"Gentlemen, Chicolini here may look like an idiot, and talk like an idiot, but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot."
- Duck Soup during the trial. (1933)

"I married your mother because I wanted children. Imagine my disappointment when you arrived."
- Horse Feathers (1932)

"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas I don't know."
- Animal Crackers (1930)

"It is better to have loft and lost than never to have loft at all."
- Monkey Business, while being chased around a hayloft by a gangster (1931)

"Remember men, we're fighting for this woman's honor, which is probably more than she ever did!"
- Duck Soup, talking about Margaret Dumont as Teasdale (1933)

"Whatever it is, I'm against it!"
- Main line in his first musical number in Horse Feathers (1932)

"I've a good mind to join a club and beat you over the head with it."
- Duck Soup, talking to Chicolini from the presidential balcony (1933)

"If I held you any closer I'd be in back of you."
- A Day At The Races (1937)

"You can leave in a taxi. If you can't get a taxi, you can leave in a huff. If that's too soon, you can leave in a minute and a huff."
- Duck Soup (1933)

"I could dance with you until the cows come home. On second thought, I'd rather dance with the cows until you come home.
- Duck Soup (1933)

"Of course you know this means war!"
- Duck Soup

"Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh... Now you tell me what you know.
- Animal Crackers (1930)

"What do you say the three of us get married: You girls have everything, you're short and tall, and slim and stout, and blonde and brunette. And that's just the kind of girl I crave!
- Animal Crackers (1930)

"Why, I'd horse-whip you if I had a horse."
- Horse Feathers (1932)

"Why, you're one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, and that's not saying much for you."
- Animal Crackers (1930)

"No, my friends. No, money will never make you happy, and happy will never make you money. That might be a wisecrack, but I doubt it."
- The Cocoanuts (1929)

"A likely story and probably true."
- The Al Jolson Show - ad-libbed repartee following a trite, scripted Al Jolson joke. (1949)

Life in Bangalore!

2005-11-23T03:35:00.000-08:00

After stomping around in Mumbai - here i have landed myself in Bangalore. First time in my life completely on my own, no mom, papa, dada... no boyfriend or even any close friends. Even at work... i am the boss, so have to set all rules myself!

Scary at first... but slowly enjoing it.

But this 11 pm deadline sucks and traffic is a big pain. And life is so slow... it just drags.......